Lanzarote

Hi everyone,

We're spending about a week here in Marina Rubicon in Lanzarote.  For much of the time we're doing boat jobs - principally working on our foredeck leak.  For two days we shared a hire car with OCC Macaronesia Cruise SVs Caballito de Mar IX and Metzi.  Here's what we saw...

Touring Lanzarote (sv Caballito de Mar IX photo)

We visited the Timanfaya National Park.  Amazing landscapes.  We took the bus ride around the park and watched demonstrations of the heat just below the surface.

Cesar Manrique's Devil symbol of the Timanfaya National Park

Straw bursts into flames a couple of metres down

Water boils off violently a few metres deeper

And the restaurant BBQ uses geothermal heat too!

We visited Jameos del Agua, a volcanic lava tunnel which runs close to sea level creating a lake.  It's a popular spot with restaurants, amphitheatres and a pool around the tunnel.

We visited Cesar Manrique's house which is now a musuem.  Very impressive architecture.

Ground level view down to the pool

Descending into the underground rooms

Below-ground pool

Artwork

Artwork - a view through a ground-floor window

Between tourist spots we drove around much of the island enjoying the spectacular landscapes and views.

Cooling off

A great tour! (sv Caballito de Mar IX photo)

See also our 2021 post on Lanzarote.

Graciosa to Lanzarote

Hi everyone,

We spent two nights at Graciosa.  The first day was spent relaxing after our early morning arrival.  On the second we went ashore with the crew of OCC sv Asteria.  We dinghied to the beach Playa de la Cochina.  From there Adam and I walked up to the top of Montana Amarillo, a ~170m peak with a great view.  After the walk we joined the ladies snorkelling the bay.  Lots of colourful fish.

Zen Again at Graciosa

Dinghying ashore

Playa de la Cochina

Playa Francesa anchorage from Montana Amarillo

Exploring Graciosa

That evening we had sundowners aboard OCC sv Saffron Star.  Thanks guys!

The following day we were up early for a dawn departure to motor to Marina Rubicon on the south side of Lanzarote.  The outlook for wind was poor so we decided to get the passage done.

Here are the plots...

Track (note the oscillating course)

Arrival

Graphs

Unfortunately our second Pelagic autopilot actuator failed soon after departure.  It had lasted only two months.  The failure left us with one very old Raymarine actuator.  This will constrain our cruising over the next few weeks before we fly to the UK where we have replacements waiting.

Fifteen minutes later the autopilot controller started misbehaving.  It wasn't holding course.  Requesting a 2 degree change of course produced a 10 degree course change after several minutes.  As the track above shows we oscillated around our desired course for some time.  Eventually we gave up and replaced it with the spare.  Pelagic autopilots don't need to be calibrated so it came to life immediately and held course.

We've now had two actuator and one controller failure in our 6-month old Pelagic system.  Unimpressed.  But Pelagic have provided great support and agreed to replace all of the failures under warranty.  So we're sticking with Pelagic for the time being.  We'll be collecting a new controller and three actuators in the UK.

Replacement autopilot controller masking-taped in place

It was a long motor to Marina Rubicon waiting for the old Raymarine actuator to die.  Happily it survived.  We anchored off the marina for one night before entering.  Nice to be back after previously visiting in 2021.  We've been joined by OCC Macaronesia cruisers Caballito del Mar, Metzi and Asteria.

For our first two days in the marina we were busy removing parts of the forepeak headliner.  Hooray for multitools!  Our multitool cut out the outboard and forward parts of moulded GRP headliner easily.  Less easy was tidying up the underside of the deck which had large areas of rock-hard resin 'bog' holding the headliner in place.  Hours of hard work with multitool, mallet and chisel.

Headliner Down!

The headliner had to come down to provide access to the forward mooring cleats.  With the headliner down we can easily inspect their mounting bolts.  Two are badly rusted and may be the source of our foredeck leak.

Zen Again at Marina Rubicon reception dock

After two days of hard work we joined the Caballitos and Metzis to hire a car and tour the island.  But that's another story!

Trust all's well where you are.

Madeira to Canaries

Hi everyone,

Our 270nm passage from Quinto do Lorde Marina in Madeira to Playa Francesa on Graciosa was a fast sail over a choppy grey sea and under a sullen grey sky.  Winds were NE 12-18 with gusts mostly to 25 but one to 30 knots.  Zen Again loved it but a little sun would have cheered the crew.  At least it was a beam reach and not another close reach.

Grey!

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

We logged 257nm during the 47 hour passage, for an average boat speed of of 5.5 knots.  That pretty good for us.  In contrast to the same passage in 2021 we passed Ilhas Desertas to windward which avoided its lee.

Passing Ilhas Desertas

Sailing under a grey sky

A little sun on day 2

Entering the anchorage in light rain

Party boats in the anchorage

A view of Graciosa

Sadly our foredeck leak isn't yet fixed.  Time to start removing the headliner to see where it's coming from.  Some years ago we removed the side paneling in forepeak and quarterberth, and headlining in the quarterberth.  Time to finish the job perhaps.

We expect to stay here for a night or two before heading onward to Lanzarote.  We're here with OCC Macaronesia Cruise sv Asteria and at least one other OCC boat.

Looking forward to some trade wind sailing in the months to come!

Trust all's well where you are.